Flowline jumpers are used in subsea hydrocarbon production operations to provide fluid communication between two subsea structures located on the sea floor. For example, a flowline jumper may be used to connect a subsea manifold to a subsea tree deployed over an offshore well and may thus be used to transport wellbore fluids from the well to the manifold. As such a flowline jumper generally includes a length of conduit with connectors located at each end of the conduit. Clamp style and collet style connectors are commonly utilized and are configured to mate with corresponding hubs on the subsea structures. As is known in the art, these connectors may be oriented vertically or horizontally with respect to the sea floor (the disclosed embodiments are not limited in this regard).
Subsea installations are time consuming and very expensive. The flowline jumpers and the corresponding connectors must therefore be highly reliable and durable. Flowline jumper connectors can be subject to large static and dynamic loads (and vibrations) during installation and routine use (e.g., due to thermal expansion and contraction of pipeline components as well as due to flow induced vibrations and vortex induced vibrations). These loads and vibrations may damage and/or fatigue the connectors and may compromise the integrity of the fluid connection. There is a need in the art for flowline jumper technology that provides for improved connector reliability.